09 September,2026 09:14 AM IST | Mumbai | mid-day online correspondent
File Photo
Air India flight AI 131 from Mumbai to London was diverted to Zurich and landed there after an air traffic control-related disruption affected operations at London Heathrow Airport.
The flight, which was carrying more than 290 passengers, landed at Zurich Airport as the disruption at Heathrow continued to affect flight operations.
Passengers initially remained onboard the aircraft in Zurich and were asked to wait as the situation at Heathrow was expected to be resolved. However, the flight was subsequently cancelled and all passengers were asked to deboard at Zurich Airport.
AI 131 was among the flights affected by the disruption at Heathrow, one of the UK's busiest airports. The aircraft, which had departed from Mumbai for London, was diverted to Zurich as operations at its scheduled destination were disrupted.
After landing in Zurich, passengers were initially kept onboard while airline officials assessed the situation and awaited further information about the reopening of operations at Heathrow.
The flight was later cancelled, leaving passengers in Zurich as the disruption continued.
The incident came amid a technical problem in the UK's air traffic control system that disrupted flight operations at several major airports, including Heathrow.
Heathrow Airport said arrivals had been suspended for the remainder of the day to ensure the safety of passengers and staff. The airport said departures had resumed, although disruption was expected to continue.
In a statement published on X, Heathrow advised passengers to check with their respective airlines for the latest information about their flights before travelling to the airport.
"We apologise to those affected and are supporting our local Nats team and airline partners as they work through the resulting disruption," the airport said.
The disruption had a wider impact on the UK's aviation network, with flight-tracking service FlightRadar reporting that more than 1,000 flights had been cancelled across UK airports.
In a post on X earlier on Tuesday evening, the service said, "Inbound flights to London airports + Manchester + Birmingham looking very different tonight compared to last Tuesday. More than 1,000 flights have been canceled at UK airports following a technical failure at a NATS ATC facility earlier today."
The cancellations and delays affected flights at multiple airports, adding to congestion across the country's aviation network.
UK air traffic control provider Nats said it was working with airlines and airports to manage the disruption and clear the resulting backlog.
In a post on X, Nats said, "Recovery from todays system issue has taken longer than we had hoped. Our system issue is now resolved, we are operating normally and working as hard as possible to clear the backlog of flights."
"Work is continuing to assist airlines and airports recover from today's disruption. This has been a very complex recovery and has created difficulties for the whole aviation network, from which it will take time to recover," it added.
Although Nats said the technical issue had been resolved, the disruption continued to affect flight schedules as airlines and airports worked through the backlog created by the incident.
